Castles of Steel - Lesbians Good, Imperialism Bad

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Lieutenant Arisukawa Haruna

Balance Stats
❁ • ❁ Work / Life ❁ • ❁
❁ • ❁ Warrior / Princess ❁ • ❁
❁ • ❁ Radical / Respectable ❁ • ❁

Tactical Stats
Gunnery 0, Navigation +2, Command +2, Technology -4, Personal -2, Strategy +3

Stress: 3​


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PLEASE READ THE QUEST RULES BELOW

You collectively vote on the actions of Arisukawa Haruna, the first woman to serve openly in the Imperial Akitsukuni Navy.

This quest is set in a universe which is much like our own circa 1910, but with different politics, cultural norms, and ideas about gender and sexuality, as well as some unusual and advanced technology in places.

We are using this quest to explore themes like breaking the glass ceiling, divergent outlooks on gender and sexuality, colonialism and imperialism, and the place of royalty.

Content Warning
This quest goes some dark places.

There is violence, often explicit, often unfair, often against undeserving targets.

There are not always good options forward. The protagonist is not necessarily a good person.

There is implied content and discussion of sexual harassment and assault.

This is a world where people are often racist, sexist, queerphobic bigots. Sometimes, even the PC and the people they are friends with.

Voting Rules

We will tell you if write-in votes are allowed. If we do not say that write-ins are allowed, they are not. This is to prevent people from unrealistically hedging their bets.

You may proposal other options in a non-vote format, subject to approval, on non write-in votes.

We will tell you when a vote allows approved voting. If we don't say the answer is no, pick an option. We like making people commit.

Discussions makes the GM feel fuzzy.

Game Rules
When we ask you for a roll, roll 3d6. You are aiming to roll equal or under the value of your stat. If you succeed, Haruna gets through the situation with no real difficulties. If you roll above the target value, Haruna will still succeed, but this success will cost her something or add a complication.

Whenever Haruna loses something or faces hardship from a botched roll, she takes Stress. The more Stress Haruna has, the more the job and the circumstances she's in will get to her, and it'll be reflected in the narrative. Haruna must be kept under 10 Stress: if she reaches 10 Stress, she will suffer a breakdown and the results will not be great for her.

Haruna loses stress by taking time for herself, by making meaningful progress on her dreams, and by kissing tall, beautiful women.

Meta Rules
Author commentary is in italics so you know it's not story stuff.

Please don't complain about the system or the fact we have to roll dice. We've heard it before, we've heard it a thousand times across multiple quests. We're not going to change it, and it wears at our fucking souls.

Just going "oh noooo" or "Fish RNGesus Why!" is fun and fine. Complaining at length because you didn't get what you want less so.

If you have a question, tag both @open_sketchbook and @Artificial Girl. If you only tag one of us, you will be ignored. Seriously, we both write this quest.

And yes this is an alt-history type setting with openly gay and trans people, ahistoric medicine, and weird politics. Just... deal, please?

This quest employs a special system called Snippet Votes. Please read this post for more information.
 
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9-6: Being Useful
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Plan: WorkWorkWork
    -[X] Go into the records from the Caspian War and track down every single instance of an aircraft going down from hostile fire, especially ground fire. Work out the common elements. Become an expert.
    -[x] Every committee you've ever seen on affairs like this end up making lots of little prototypes so they can show a physical example of what they've devised and have a solid, material thing to show to the admirals. Nobody on the list looks like the kind of person who knows how to do that, so you should learn so you can be useful.

    You stepped out of the office with intent to go and make yourself look busy, and were immediately stumped by the fact there were still no desks present in the room. You glanced around for somewhere to be, aware you were standing awkwardly in the doorway, but there was nothing but the chairs arrayed along the wall and the smoke-filled conference room where three strange men were hard at work producing spent cigarette butts. They couldn't have been in there long, but there was already a thick fog of the stuff and it reminded you of the air back in I-02 after several hours underwater.

    You took a seat at one of the chairs along the wall. You'd had quite enough of that during the war, thank you. Surely, the rest of the team would arrive shortly and there would be a task you could set yourself to, preferable at a desk. You sat back, crossed your arms, and waited.

    An eternity passed. You were tired of waiting.

    You needed to do something to be useful. What was this project going to need to be successful? How could you contribute here and make a positive impact? You'd never been on a committee like this before, but you'd certainly read about them. Reading about possible postings was the mark of a good officer, so you did it just to be prepared. The first thing you'd need to do, obviously, is familiarize yourself with the material. The most modern and up-to-date information would be from the war in Europa, but they had a foreign advisor for that and you likely wouldn't have the best access to that information anyway.

    That left local experience; the committee would have access to various records from the war, of the performance of various weapons against aircraft, of aircraft against ships, probably your own reports tucked somewhere in there from the surreal months in the mud in Joseon. It'd probably pay to familiarize yourself with them as soon as you had access; if you broke it down into a few hours of reading during downtime and your lunch breaks, you could probably read through it all before any major decisions got made. That way, you'd not sound ignorant. Your own experience was so limited that checking up on all reported downings of enemy aircraft by friendly anti-aircraft weaponry and reported losses of friendly aircraft to enemy anti-aircraft weaponry would be vital to proper understanding. Already you were thinking about how to collate and sort it all. Speed, altitude, type of gun, type of aircraft…

    You wracked your brain trying to think of something else to do, some other way to be valuable to the committee. You didn't want people to just think that you'd gotten the job because of your connections with Admiral Fukunaga, even though you very much had. From what you remembered, there was always some sort of model or miniature to demonstrate the function of a thing, whether it was a battleship or an aircraft or even something like a drifter. You could do that! You made model ships as a child; sailing ships, of course, but modeling an anti-aircraft gun was probably similar.

    You wondered if your paints would still be good. Oh, well, your mother almost certainly had them thrown out by now. You'd need to pick up new ones, and materials. Your sketching had grown so much better since you were a child, you'd probably not be nearly as sloppy either. Your knowledge of geometry was better now, too, and you'd had experience with similar weapons, but it might pay to get some sketches for reference.

    That felt like a good checklist of things you could do to make yourself useful. You felt a lot less nervous about being useless to the committee; there were definitely ways you could contribute! And thinking about all this surely had eaten up enough time, right?

    You checked your watch. It had been ten minutes.

    ---

    The next several days were made slightly less awful by the arrival of your desks and you were soon ensconced at one of those closest to Captain Tomita's office. Your liaison from Ohara arrived and she was pleasant, though she seemed just as much at a loss as to what she should be doing as you. She was lucky, though--she only had to spend half the day here.

    Unfortunately, there was still very little to do except for meetings that seemed to happen practically every day. These meetings mostly seemed to be about planning for the next meeting, going over the minutes from the last meeting, and waiting on the preliminary report from the engineers. They consisted of Captain Tomita talking, you listening, and everyone else doing their best to stave off sleep and stain the freshly-painted walls with tobacco smoke. You don't think the actual subject of the weapon mounts themselves were discussed more than once or twice between timetables and budget discussion.

    It was getting cold out and so the little stove in one corner of the room quickly made the room feel overly warm and stuffy, to the point that you wished you could open a window as sleep threatened at any moment during interminable meetings. It sucked. It sucked so hard.

    Thankfully, when you weren't in meetings you were free to do just about whatever you wanted; you were mostly left to your own devices while the Captain called in one or two of the other men for 'consultations' that seemed to consist of smoking, drinking, and nodding importantly at reports. To occupy this time, every minute not dedicated to the meetings was spent in the archives going over action reports in an attempt to establish some sort of pattern. Unfortunately, info on aircraft downings was notoriously unreliable, as confirming a craft as shot down was practically impossible. Still, by cross-checking the type of weapon and how it had been mounted and then collecting the numbers of downed aircraft you could start to see if there was a pattern or advantage in certain mounts.

    It was mentally taxing work but you were starting to get a picture of when aircraft were being shot down and how--usually when flying at lower altitudes and lower speeds, especially in the presence of enemy quick-firing guns and machine guns. You had written up a solid (and thick) portfolio detailing these findings for presentation.

    So in your mind the mount was taking form--it would need to be able to traverse quickly in order to deal with faster enemy aircraft and would need to have a high angle so that even aircraft at high altitudes wouldn't be immune to fire. There would need to be plenty of space around the gun for the crews to move, and they would necessarily be large crews because of the sheer amount of ammunition these guns would consume, massive teams running clips or belts of shells back and forth. The more fire that was put into the air, the better chance of hitting the aircraft. You envisioned something almost like fire-fighting bucket chains, but for shells.

    You spent some time using your geometry skills to sketch out a rudimentary idea and decided that what was needed next was a three-dimensional proof of concept. A model, made from wood or cardstock! And painted, of course, you had to paint it. Otherwise it would look childish. A visit to an art supply store quickly furnished cardstock of the required thickness.

    As you examined a rack of oil paints, you thought. You'd mostly need grays and blacks, appropriate colors for a battleship. Maybe some blue and white for an Akitsukuni flag? Something to approximate gunmetal for the gun itself, whatever it was. Paints selected you headed home for the evening, intent on constructing your model to the highest specifications possible.

    Sitting at your living room table, you had laid out your rudimentary drafting and begun cutting out the pieces of the mount when you were struck by a thought:

    Was this worth the effort? Was building a proof of concept model something that would be helpful? Hm. You stared down at the pieces laying on the table.

    Of course it had to be! People appreciated extra effort. They had to. It was part of what had gotten you where you were today. Even when you had a job you didn't care for, you put your all into it just to prove that you could! And it had worked out. Yes.

    You were secure in your habits. This was normal. Everything was fine.

    You were in the midst of the assembly when you heard the lock on the front door thunk, the handle turn, and the door swing open. Your heart leapt into your throat and before you knew it you had pushed yourself to your feet and were headed for the door.

    There, standing in the vestibule in the coat you had bought her the year before and with her hat pulled low against the cold, was Aiko. She looked exhausted, but as soon as she saw you she practically leapt forward to pull you into an embrace and kiss you silly. Her hands were cold but you didn't care. She was here. Finally, after months apart, you were back together again. She was crying. You were crying. The neighbors probably thought you were both mad.

    "Haruna!" She had you crushed against her again and you were burying your face into her coat just to remember the scent of her, hiding your tears.

    "Aiko, Aiko--!" You murmured her name. She kicked the door shut behind her and the two of you were properly alone again. You stayed like that for a long while, simply holding each other until she finally released you with a groan.

    "I'm so tired," she said. "Getting home was a nightmare--I need tea and a bath and so much else--"

    "Sit down!" You demanded. "I'll make tea."

    Within a few minutes she was in a house robe, stretched out on the tatami while you bustled around in the kitchen making a pot of tea. Soon enough you were sitting next to her, sharing the revitalizing drink and enjoying the warmth of her company again, leaning against her shoulder as she drank her tea.

    "It was the worst trip I've ever been on," she lamented. "The trip to Vespuccia was fine, but when we stopped over in a port there, the whole ship got quarantined. There was a case of typhus and we all had to stay on board the ship for a month to make sure that there wasn't going to be an outbreak. Ugh. Worst month of my life…" She murmured as gripped her hand.

    "Why did you need to quarantine, couldn't you have just sailed on?"

    "They weren't sure if we could go through the canal, there's restrictions or something. The consulate bundled us all onto a train across the country, which would have been much cooler if we'd been allowed off of it to stretch our legs more than twice. I don't even want to think about it," she continued. "I just want to sleep in my own bed for a week and then get back to school. Maybe two weeks of sleep."

    "You deserve two weeks of sleep," you assured her. She finished her tea, set it down heavily, and leaned forward to look at your half-finished model.

    "... Look at this. I leave you alone for a few months and you get into toymaking," she teased, turning the board you'd mounted it on to look at it from new angles. "What is it, exactly?"

    "Well, you see…"

    ---

    Here is your chance to influence the future of anti-aircraft gun mount design in the Navy! Write in a description of the model, with all the interesting and forward-thinking features Haruna has devised to keep the skies free of aircraft and ensure that the good old battleship will remain supreme forever.

    [ ] Write In
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Is there any way we can obtain surplus weapons from the military to judge what weapon calibers and crew training would be needed to create dedicated anti-aircraft stations?
     
    We don't have any idea how to make a fancy schmancy computer, but we need SOME way to lead the target. At the very least, make sure the reticle is nice and big... Higher velocity is much better, for greater reach and less leading needed... Prox fuses? Timed fuses? Hmm.

    The motion of the ship the gun is on will be a Problem.
     
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    buli-buli said:
    So... a Bofors 40 mm gun?
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    I think that for now, a QF 2-pounder Mk.II is the most effective thing: we are still in the biplane era and the 40mm Bofors' clip loading system sacrifice fire rate for muzzle velocity. The 2-pounder offers similar effects on targets (both fires 40mm shells) but it uses a less crew-intensive belt-loading system and has a slower muzzle velocity as a tradeoff.

    Moreover, the 2-pounder has a built-in fuze setter(that has to be refined using a mechanical fuze instead of a chemical, but still...).

    P.S.: A 2-pounder Mk.VIII could also be useful, it's cumbersome but the row firepower makes him a fearsome weapon against slow-moving biplanes.
     
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    The way this seems to going seems like Haruna is going to show up with her exhaustively detailed model and documentation, only to learn that "God Forbid, Woman. Actually Writing the report" is the biggest faux pax in committee culture possible.
     
    10ebbor10 said:
    The way this seems to going seems like Haruna is going to show up with her exhaustively detailed model and documentation, only to learn that "God Forbid, Woman. Actually Writing the report" is the biggest faux pax in committee culture possible.
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    "Good word, what are you trying to pull here? The AA mounting will be designed based on politics, not practicality!"
     
    Aaaaaa! This is such good timing on me starting to read this quest finally. I am (very, very, very nearly) caught up now, and just as I get to the end there's an update with Aiko and Haruna reunited??? So sweet!

    There's a lot about this quest to love, with the alternate history being super interesting, all the drama, the political stuff- But Aiko and Haruna's romance has got to be just about my favorite part of the whole thing. They're absurdly sweet together.
     
    I will admit to not having much military knowledge, nor enough mechanical engineering knowledge to weigh in here, so I'll leave that to those who do. Haru's work ethic is wild, though, and committees sound miserable.

    The most important thing is that Aiko's back!!! That sounds like an absolutely miserable journey, and I'm glad she's doing ok.
     
    Oh boy, naval mount design.
    ILSergenteSalv said:
    I think that for now, a QF 2-pounder Mk.II is the most effective thing: we are still in the biplane era and the 40mm Bofors' clip loading system sacrifice fire rate for muzzle velocity.

    P.S.: A 2-pounder Mk.VIII could also be useful, it's cumbersome but the row firepower makes him a fearsome weapon against slow-moving biplanes.
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    One of the less desirable aspects of the 2 pdr is that when you're out of ammo, you're really out of ammo. You can't load a belt while you're firing whereas you can shove a clip in the top of the Bofors' feed while there's another one in there. You can see how this results in a lower practical rate of fire on the navweaps page you linked when compared to the Bofors, Flak 43, or 71-K.

    Also, of note, Akitsukuni aircraft are fairly advanced compared to IRL. They were dive-bombing in their RJW equivalent, for example. Haruna speculated earlier on dropping battleship shells from aircraft. We need the ability to hit either dive bombers or mid-alt level bombers before they release their weapons, and hit them hard enough that they can't press home the attack despite the damage.
    Rockeye said:
    We don't have any idea how to make a fancy schmancy computer, but we need SOME way to lead the target. At the very least, make sure the reticle is nice and big... Higher velocity is much better, for greater reach and less leading needed... Prox fuses? Timed fuses? Hmm.

    The motion of the ship the gun is on will be a Problem.
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    In addition to a nice big reticle, it would be advantageous to physically separate the fire director from the mount if possible (and this is a big if). That was found to improve accuracy since you don't have a 40 mm cannon going off right by your head while you're trying to aim. This also makes adding in the aforementioned computers (and stable verticals, to compensate for ownship motion) much easier later on. However, it may be beyond the state of the art, even if it's a follow-the-pointer system.

    Gyros, historically, didn't work great in practice (although I'm sure there were exceptions). There's just too much fiddly stuff combined with the vibrations of the guns. The US Bofors mounts, for example, did not have three-axis stabilization.

    Time fuzing is an option if we're using a single-shot gun with a fairly large shell, but it's arguably not worth it until you have automatic fuze setting in the loading tray, and that'll take a while to make reliable. Until you've got radar in the loop, I'd argue that you're better off just using an impact fuze and firing the round with less dead time. IIRC, there was a statistical analysis of German AA during the war that came to a similar effect for the heavy guns.

    Anyways, some other thoughts:
    • Most importantly, this needs to be simple. We can't repeat the mistakes of, say, Italy and make an absurdly overcomplicated mount with a dozen gyros that breaks down as soon as you leave dock. We need reliability and low cost, and the way to do that is to not overcomplicate it. However, this also ties into how long we have until the next war - something like the Hazemeyer mount might be fine if we've got two decades to perfect it, but if war's around the corner, it should be as simple as possible.
    • As mentioned, the mounting needs to be light enough to track fast-moving targets. That means no weird stuff like the Minizini mount.
    • That said, since we're aboard a ship, the weight of the guns themselves is less of a concern. A water-cooled barrel improves barrel life if we're being tasked with mounting an automatic gun.
    • I'm personally a fan of a two-gun mount to start with. No need to overcomplicate things, but still a useful number of guns on the mount.
    • High angle loading is important, so we need to place the ammunition feed close to the trunnion axis. Either we load it through the side, like on the Breda 37, or we load it from the top, like the Bofors and its derivatives. I suspect that this will probably be dictated by the gun itself, though, so the important part is just that the ammunition feed is near the trunnion axis so they aren't having to bend up and down to load the gun.
    • Ammunition supply to the gun crew is very important if this is a clip-fed gun. Either we need dedicated positions around the gun with ready-use ammunition, or a hoist system (such as the French 37 mm ACAD's mounting). If this is a belt-fed gun, we should complain vigorously. Ready use ammunition around the mounting is slightly slower to use in that you're not always repeating the same movement, but doesn't require penetrating the weather deck. The ammunition supply also needs to be near the loading position so the loaders don't have to reach too far and can keep up a high cyclic rate.
    • If technically possible, we should have it be power-operated. Thankfully, an electrical engineering student just happened to walk through our door, so we should be able to find out if it's possible or not very quickly.
    Edit: If we do power operation, it's very important that we also have sufficient backup generators to prevent us getting PoW'd.
     
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    Okay. It's a naval gun.

    So, the famous Bofors 40mm could fire 90° strait up and 5° down. And move 55° per second. It could freely spin a whole 360° at a speed of 50° per second.

    The 5"/54 cal mark 16 had a vertical range of 10° below horizontal and 85° vertical. And a side to motion of 150° each way.

    So we should probably shoot for a vertical range of motion of at least 90° and a horizontal range of motion of at least 300°.
    With a goal of 100° vertical and free 360° horizontal.
     
    I think we've seen that 360⁰ horizontal traversal and at least 90⁰ vertical are needed, but we'll probably want the gun mount to allow some depression below horizon just in case they want to shoot at torpedo boats or something.

    Volume of fire also seems important, so setting up a basic design that allows doubles and quads without changing the mount will be good future-proofing for when we need to add more AA.

    I think the biggest things that we are going to want to pay attention to are going to be reloading while still tracking a target, and quick dismount-remount for things like overheated barrels or jammed up mechanisms. So easy maintenance in saltwater conditions too.

    Do we want powered mounts, or are the AA guns still small enough for manual traversal?

    I'm thinking a pole with a basic universal joint, enclosed, with a locking lever that will fix the gun's position. Maybe one that isn't just on/off, so the gun can be made harder/easier to move? Harder to move when there's a lot of distance and you are trying to make small adjustments, easier for when you are in the middle of the hornet's nest.

    Probably want to lay out a minimum clear distance around the gun, so there's room to aim in any direction and still run ammunition, and a hopper/funnel to collect spent brass and send it somewhere for reuse.

    Other thoughts?
     
    Glau said:
    Do we want powered mounts, or are the AA guns still small enough for manual traversal?
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    Stick with manual, I'd say, this is still WW1 era aircraft, after all.

    Glau said:
    I'm thinking a pole with a basic universal joint, enclosed, with a locking lever that will fix the gun's position. Maybe one that isn't just on/off, so the gun can be made harder/easier to move? Harder to move when there's a lot of distance and you are trying to make small adjustments, easier for when you are in the middle of the hornet's nest.
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    Eh, I dunno, that sounds like something someone locks in place on accident and needs to fix in the middle of a dive attack.

    Seriously, the goal is throw up enough shells roughly in the same area as the aircraft and hope something hits.     One idea to consider is 20mm guns, and just throw up a shitload of them, with some 40s for longer range/sop to the captains as a secondary battery or two.

    Also bear in mind, thihs is the 1st gen stuff. We're just starting, odds are thihs is gonna be obsolete fast.
     
    I'm just thinking it's going to be easier to engage at range if you can lock the aim point so recoil doesn't keep throwing you off. But once it gets closer enough that you have to lead it like a clay pigeon, full mobility?

    Found this, liked the way it was all engineering drawing style.


     
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    Glau said:
    I think the biggest things that we are going to want to pay attention to are going to be reloading while still tracking a target, and quick dismount-remount for things like overheated barrels or jammed up mechanisms. So easy maintenance in saltwater conditions too.
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    Ideally, with a water-cooled gun, your barrels aren't overheating, and a jam can be cleared by re-cocking the gun. Removing a gun from its mounting is not something you'd be doing in combat.
    Night_stalker said:
    Stick with manual, I'd say, this is still WW1 era aircraft, after all.


    Eh, I dunno, that sounds like something someone locks in place on accident and needs to fix in the middle of a dive attack.
    Seriously, the goal is throw up enough shells roughly in the same area as the aircraft and hope something hits. One idea to consider is 20mm guns, and just throw up a shitload of them, with some 40s for longer range/sop to the captains as a secondary battery or two.

    Also bear in mind, thihs is the 1st gen stuff. We're just starting, odds are thihs is gonna be obsolete fast.
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    While barrage fire is a thing for heavier guns, it's not effective for something like a 40 mm (which is probably what we'll be tasked with designing a mount for). It's also not as useful against dive bombers, which exist already (IIRC, the Ohara Duck, if I'm getting the name right?)
     
    [ ] Why reinvent the wheel? In essence, the gun mount comes down to two (2) axles, three or four (3 or 4) wheels, and an appropriate number of gears and cranks to be turned by hand or foot. The very base of the mount will be wide and flat for stability. The first and largest axle will be planted in it and on the other end will be and larger "wheel" that will serve as the "floor" of the gun. If necessary, perhaps tracked supports could help hold up the outer edge of the floor depending on how the weight holds up. Atop the floor, two triangular mounts will hold up a second axle and set of wheels. The gun will be placed upon this second horizontal axle. Theoretically, the wheels could allow the gun to move in 360 degrees both vertically and horizontally. Practically, there will almost certainly be permanent brakes set into the wheels to prevent such a range of motion, not including the gun's own size or any barriers added onto the mount. The mount's motion is handled by hand cranks or foot pedals. Gear shifts and hand brakes will be used to control the speed of motion in each direction.
     
    What size of gun are we designing a mount for, actually? Artillery firing time-fused shells, large caliber autocannons, small caliber autocannons/machine guns? That would determine the nature of the mount we'd be making. Haruna's experience is more with the Not!Hotchkiss revolving cannons, which seem to me more in the Bofors-like category.

    Bigger guns would either need to be power operated or single-mounted, and preferably with an option for director control of some kind. They would likely also need some consideration for fire against surface ships even though they're not true dual-purpose guns. Mechanical rammers are very useful and ammo hoists are basically essential, as are fuse-setting pedestals. Decent splinter protection for the crew would be ideal on a powered mount.

    Bigger autocannons like Bofors guns would also likely need to be single-mounted if on a manually trained mount, given their need for a greater training/elevation rate, but powered mounts could handle more. Splinter protection could likely be reduced to a thin barbette and potentially a gun shield. While director fire is very useful even for this caliber, the tech might not be there for it yet, so we may have to make due with a sight with the ability for a crewmember to adjust to compensate for speed, akin to the Stiffkey sight on the Bofors.

    Lighter autocannons or heavy machine guns could and probably should be on very simple flexible mounts. The standard spiderweb sights will do for those.

    For Dude-powered mounts, you'll want big cranks for maximum Dude Power, and separate ones for training and elevation. Sights'll need to be duplicated for both of them.
     
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    Honestly, if we wanted to be political about it, we'd recommend multiple calibers of AA and different mounts optimized for each caliber, so the work would get farmed out to many contractors.

    If we want to optimize for the navy, we'd produce one mount for one caliber, so parts, training, and ammunition are standard.
     
    So, after doing a bit of research (I really should not have gotten myself distracted, fuck), I've come up with bullet points of a plan:
    • The mount itself is superficially similar to the USN 40 mm Mark 1, in that it's two paired guns in the middle of a vaguely-semicircular mount, with the rear platform (that rotates with the guns) being used by the loaders:
    ​
    • Ready ammunition is stored in lockers surrounding the gun mount.​
    • Guns themselves are water-cooled.​
    • To provide the maximum amount of space for the ammunition handlers to do their thing, and prevent interference between the guns, the crew, and the people aiming the guns, the aiming is taken off-mount. There's a platform above and behind the mount where a person can stand and aim a dummy gun with a nice, big spiderweb sight (similar to the 20 mm pedestal mount posted upthread), and a linkage converts movements of that dummy gun into movements of the mount. Backup control positions can be provided on the mount, but they're spartan.​
    • While it's technically possible that Akitsukuni could be advanced enough to have synchros (Germany did in 1914, and she should check with Aiko on this!), most countries IRL had to rely on stepper motors if they wanted electric elevation and training, which are too jerky for use in AA. Instead, swashplate hydraulic motors can provide smooth power operation, amplifying the movements of the gun director. This is a decently mature tech, and would be familiar to Haruna since the turrets of Albian-built warships, such as the Myogi, would have them.​
    This is, ofc, assuming we're using something similar to the 37 mms we commanded in the last war; if the AA gun is closer to the 3" automatic cannon used aboard our torpedo boat, then I'd be suggesting something slightly different.
     
    C_Z said:
    So, after doing a bit of research (I really should not have gotten myself distracted, fuck), I've come up with bullet points of a plan:
    • The mount itself is superficially similar to the USN 40 mm Mark 1, in that it's two paired guns in the middle of a vaguely-semicircular mount, with the rear platform (that rotates with the guns) being used by the loaders:
    ​
    • Ready ammunition is stored in lockers surrounding the gun mount.​
    • Guns themselves are water-cooled.​
    • To provide the maximum amount of space for the ammunition handlers to do their thing, and prevent interference between the guns, the crew, and the people aiming the guns, the aiming is taken off-mount. There's a platform above and behind the mount where a person can stand and aim a dummy gun with a nice, big spiderweb sight (similar to the 20 mm pedestal mount posted upthread), and a linkage converts movements of that dummy gun into movements of the mount. Backup control positions can be provided on the mount, but they're spartan.​
    • While it's technically possible that Akitsukuni could be advanced enough to have synchros (Germany did in 1914, and she should check with Aiko on this!), most countries IRL had to rely on stepper motors if they wanted electric elevation and training, which are too jerky for use in AA. Instead, swashplate hydraulic motors can provide smooth power operation, amplifying the movements of the gun director. This is a decently mature tech, and would be familiar to Haruna since the turrets of Albian-built warships, such as the Myogi, would have them.​
    This is, ofc, assuming we're using something similar to the 37 mms we commanded in the last war; if the AA gun is closer to the 3" automatic cannon used aboard our torpedo boat, then I'd be suggesting something slightly different.
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    If you have the ability to convert the position of the dummy gun to the position of the actual gun with the necessary degree of accuracy, you could likely have proper director firing for groups of AA guns, at least ones with similar arcs, which is generally helpful for coordinated fire.
     
    Adastra said:
    If you have the ability to convert the position of the dummy gun to the position of the actual gun with the necessary degree of accuracy, you could likely have proper director firing for groups of AA guns, at least ones with similar arcs, which is generally helpful for coordinated fire.
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    Well yes, but that's a tad more complicated (especially because this is a hydraulic system, not an electrical one). The intent was to come up with something that'd have a lot of upgrade potential, though, since I don't think our mounting will enter service in time for use in WWI (seeing as it's already started and the Navy apparently has a serviceable 37 mm mount).
     
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